A Clash of Cultures

Esther 8:1-8, 15-17
Acts 19:21-41
Luke 4:31-37
The continuing story in the book of Esther shows how the queen’s actions helped to save her people from destruction. In a clash of wills between Esther and Haman, she was more than up to the challenge. But this is not the only clash we read about today. Our reading from Luke this morning tells the story of Jesus healing a man who is possessed. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?” shouts the demon. “Have you come to destroy us?” (Luke 4:34). Indeed he has, and Jesus proceeds to send the demon away from the man. The crowd that witnessed these events was amazed. Clearly Jesus was up to the challenge of healing and casting out the powers of evil.

The Esther and Luke accounts are insightful, but it is in Acts that today’s scriptures “quit preaching and go to meddling.” The silversmiths of Ephesus and all the artisans who made their living from the temple to the Greek goddess Artemis were distressed by the words and actions of Paul and his followers. They could tell that if everyone became Christian and gave up idol worship there would be no more business for them. And this is where the clash of ideals really hits home in our case because in our world today there are any number of situations where the Christian faith calls us away from our chosen lifestyles, from our business practices, from our interests and proclivities. It may be as simple as a desire to play golf on Sunday mornings, or as complicated as earning a paycheck from a corporation that uses questionable business practices. If everyone was a Christian, or rather, if everyone looked at life from a Christian perspective and lived by Christian teachings a wide range of human activities would have to be reexamined. The choices we make politically, the products we buy at the store, the programs we watch on TV, the way our society embraces sports, the love of money and success, the unbridled lust and desire that guide so many of us, all of these and so many more demand our attention. If what Paul says is true, if what the Bible says is true, then there are a number of changes that really need to take place in our lives and in our world. The clash of cultures is very telling. Jesus’ lordship means nothing if it is not total. The question is, whose side are we on, and what are we willing to do about it?

Prayer: Lord, help us to let go of our idols and to focus our lives on you so that we may live in faithful obedience. In Jesus’ name. Amen.